Monday, August 11, 2014

Cloud Pictures, What Do You See?

August 11, 1965

Jocie Brooke here, reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you like trying to see things in clouds? I do sometimes. I took this picture. Well, not really on purpose. Zella would have a fit if she thought I was wasting film on clouds, but I slipped when I was trying to take a cow picture for the paper and took the sky instead. I don't know why people wouldn't just as soon see clouds as a cow, but Dad says they wouldn't. That farmers like pastoral scenes in their paper.

Anyway, once the picture was taken, it was taken. Wasted film or not. Now I'm seeing an angel in the cloud. Wes says I'm using more imagination than eyesight, but if I want to see an angel where there's nothing but fluffy puffs of white, then that's fine. He says a person should see things they like to see when they look at clouds. I asked him what he saw. He looked at the picture a long time and then said he saw race tracks for invisible sky racers. Zella said we were both wrong. That anybody could see the lion's face in the middle of the cloud. Plain as day. 

Dad said he saw clouds. Said he liked clouds just the way they were, that he spent so much time under the ocean in that submarine during the war that he was always blessed by the sight of blue sky and clouds. 

So what do you see here?

Poor Bailey in my story doesn't like dark clouds, but sometimes the storm clouds come.  Right now he's having trouble figuring out a way to get out of the fenced in yard. Remember the part of the story that I've already written is on the Bailey's Bug link at the top of my report if you want to catch up.  I'm thinking I should have cut out some of the beginning and jumped to the action faster. I think there's going to be some action. I think. Anyway, here's the next couple of pages.



BAILEY'S BUG (Continued) by Jocie Brooke
     The fence wasn’t so easy to conquer. Bailey couldn't jump it. His legs weren't long enough or springy enough. He pushed his head against it, but all that did was pinch his nose between the wire links. With a yowl, he plopped down in the shade with his paw over his face.
     After a while, he started walking around the fence again looking for a weak spot. In the far corner a little hole showed up under the bottom of the fence. He began pawing at it to make it bigger, but Mr. Robinson ran out, grabbed his collar and gave him a shake.
     “Stop that, Bailey. No digging in the yard.”
     Bailey backed away from the hole that was too little to fit his head through, much less the rest of him. Even if he could sneak around and dig when the Robinsons weren’t paying attention, it would take a lot of digging, and his toenails where already sore. There had to be a better way. Bailey went back to the middle of the yard.
     He didn’t have much time. Mr. Robinson was headed toward the back door. Maybe the gate wasn’t fastened tight. Bailey took off and banged into the gate. It gave just enough for him to squeeze his head through, but then the gate bounced back and caught his neck.
     All he could do was make a strangled whiny sound until Mr. Robinson came to rescue him.
     “What’s the matter with you today, Bailey?” Mr. Robinson pushed open the gate to let Bailey get his head free. “You got someplace you want to go?”
     Bailey hopped around Mr. Robinson and then jumped up on the gate. He wagged his tail as fast as he could. Maybe Mr. Robinson understood what he wanted to do.
     But then the man laughed. “You silly old dog. You don’t really want out there. Nothing but trouble out there for a dog like you.” He took hold of Bailey’s collar and led him toward the back door.
     Bailey had to go back inside. Lucinda looked up from her nap with her I-told-you-so look. He didn’t wait for her to say it out loud. He said, “I’m going. Tomorrow.”
     She raised up and stretched, grabbing her claws on the back of the recliner. “Don’t bother waking me to say goodbye.”
 (to be continued)


That's all I got written this week. When I wasn't at the newspaper, I had to help Aunt Love with the green beans somebody at church gave her. Stringing beans takes forever. But I'll figure out how Bailey gets out of that fence sooner or later. Do you have any ideas?

15 comments:

  1. Hi Ann,
    I love finding things in the clouds.
    What I see in your cloud picture is a parrot it up towards the middle in the left picture. :) let me know if you see it. Haha
    oh.hello.hiya@gmail.com
    And your book sounds like a fun one too read.

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    1. I do, Danie. Not at first, but I looked again. After Zella saw that lion face, that's what I see first. I'm glad you pointed out the parrot too. Hope you will come back to read more about Bailey. It's hard to write a book and make it sound right.

      Glad you stopped by.
      Jocie

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    2. Oh Jocie, I will stop by again. I've not seen the Lion face. I'll have to look again and see if I see the lion.
      oh.hello.hiya@gmail.com

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    3. Great, Danie. The lion is right next to your parrot, I think. Just right of the center in the upper half. Do you see his eyes? Zella says it's plain as day.

      Ha Ha.
      Jocie

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    4. Hi Jocie,
      Yes I just saw it and I also saw another animal too it's a fish! See if you see can see it :)

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    5. I also see a buble bee do you see it??
      oh.hello.hiya@gmail.com

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    6. Wow! You're finding a lot of things in those clouds, Danie. I'm having trouble seeing the bumble bee or the fish, but I think I just spotted a butterfly. Ha. And if you just look at the blue, somebody pointed out to me that there's a heart of blue. Then I saw a blue high heel shoe right below that. I had no idea you could find so many things in one bunch of clouds. This is fun!
      Jocie

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  2. Oh I will have to have too look to see the heart and shoe :)

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  3. Yes, I see both the shoe and the heart :)

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    1. I knew you would. It's been fun cloud watching with you, Danie.

      Jocie

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  4. Bailey could probably figure out that the front door gets opened sometimes by the people of the house. Visitors and family. But that door really opens big and even stays open LONGER for the mailman and the man in the brown shirt and shorts that brings in the big boxes! And people sometimes have to turn their back to put that big brown box down somewhere in order to get the next box! And my gosh the blue sky and green grass is out there so surely that is means that is the outside too! Karen knows this because she has 3 dogs that are very alert to that front door and who might come there or what might be out there! So Bailey might just need to get his thinking cat, oh, cap on. PS-don't tell the cat because she Lord's it over Bailey too much! I don't have cats like that though. Mine would be right behind Bailey trying to go out there too! Karen in NC. PS love Bailey and I do not think the length of the beginning is too long. It sounds like the day of a dog, which probably can seem too long to them!!! (Especially mine who have to stay inside all afternoon while the people are away.) Karen in NC I am reading Seeker now and will finish all of your Shaker series and then move on to Hollyhill. Thank you so much for writing stories!

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    1. I don't know much about the brown shirt and shorts man, Karen. We don't get boxes except the ones the people at church give us with all that nasty cabbage and zucchini in them. I don't why they can't fill them up with peaches!! But Aunt Love says I shouldn't complain. Well, actually she quotes some Bible verse that says it's wrong to complain. And the mailman, he just leaves the mail out in the mailbox beside the road. Not sure Bailey could make an escape that way, but he'll figure out something and soon. Sorry that I made the beginning too long. Guess I should have tried a little more editing before I typed it up here. But I'll try to do better on the next chapters. And you should have started with the books that starred me - those in Hollyhill! Just wait till you read all those Jupiter stories Wes tells me. You're going to be laughing for sure.

      See you tomorrow. Got to go figure out what Bailey does next.

      Jocie

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    2. Sorry Josie. I forgot where you live. Where I live we have men in brown shorts and shirts that bring big boxes. Usually with treats and toys for my dogs. I am not much on cabbage. Zucchini is okay if it is made into bread and mock crab cakes. But living where you do I imagine you haven't had much crab. Maybe you can go to the beach sometime. Bailey would like it too!

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    3. Aunt Love would faint dead away if I bought something for Zeb to play with. She'd say we don't have money for that. You must have some lucky dog friends. And I've never eaten crab. The word sounds horrible - not like something you'd want to eat. Words are like that, you know. They sound right or they don't. Now strawberry - that sounds like something good to eat. Guess I should try to expand my eating horizons. I'd certainly like going to the beach someday. And I don't know about Bailey, whether he'll get to a beach in this story or not.

      Thanks for telling me about the brown shorts and shirt men.

      Jocie

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  5. Oh and it's bee fun looking at clouds with you too
    Jocie

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Jocie loves to know what you're thinking about your visits to Hollyhill.